My Hero Secret
by Nozomi888
Summary: Midoriya had the absolutely perfect Quirk- except that it was a secret to everyone! But a little incident with Kacchan threatens to expose that secret. What is it? FemDeku x Kacchan. Rated M mainly for Kacchan's foul mouth. NSFW chapters won't be available until they get together. ;)
1. Chapter 1 - Not Quirkless

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 1**

Midoriya woke up with a start. He could feel the sheen of sweat on his body. His mind was sharp and alert. He looked out the window at the rising sun, then looked down at his pajamas. He frowned.

He concentrated.

Nothing.

He tried to refocus on his Quirk, willing it to happen.

Nothing.

_Oh no…_

His quirk had never failed him before.

Today was a first.

He quickly got out of bed and scrambled for his cellphone, dialing his teacher.

"Hello, Midoriya-shounen, bright and early today, I…"

"Sensei…" Midoriya croaked, stopping All Might in mid-sentence.

"Wait there, I'll be right over."

Midoriya hung up the phone and sighed deeply. He looked glumly at his reflection in the mirror. At that moment, his mother rapped on his door and opened it.

"Izuku, it's time to get up for schoo- KYAAA!" she shrieked, falling to her knees in shock, as she took in his appearance.

They stared at each other for a few moments.

"R-right, ok," his mother broke the silence first. "I'm sorry, I didn't know how to react, seeing as I haven't seen this form in so long, Izuku- no, Izuki."

At this name, Izuki hung her head in her hands.

Izuki's mother cleared her throat "Just… just think of this as a temporary setback, Izuki-chan. Maybe you just need to rest or…" Inko's voice trailed. She wasn't sure if her words would encourage her daughter.

A sigh escaped her own lips. Daughter. She was torn between joy and sadness. Joy that she had given birth to such a wonderful, hardworking daughter, and yet saddened because she knew that this Quirk was one secret that she had intended to keep forever. But if she couldn't will her Quirk to its form now, how long would she be able to keep this secret? Inko Midoriya's eyes took in the very feminine form of her teenage daughter.

The doorbell started sounding urgently throughout their house.

"All Might-san is here, please open the door, Okaa-san. I'll get dressed and come out to meet him."

Inko nodded mutely and closed the door behind her and she headed towards the front door. Izuki pulled at her disheveled hair in resignation.

"This stupid Quirk!" she muttered. She would have preferred to just be Quirkless, as Kacchan claimed her to be, instead of having this accursed Quirk.

But then again, if she hadn't had this stupid Quirk in the first place, she might not have had the chance to meet her hero, All Might. She might not have gotten the opportunity to inherit her second Quirk, One for All, if she hadn't been Izuku Midoriya.

She sighed again and went over to her cabinet to put on some layers of shirts and a jacket. She had to be decently presentable before meeting her sensei, and she couldn't do that with her breasts sticking out from her shirt.

—o—o—o—o—o—

In the living room, All Might was pacing in thought while Midoriya's mother kept herself busy in the kitchen, preparing tea. He looked up at the sound of footsteps and stopped mid-stride in his pace.

Although he had seen it once before, he had an inkling that he would never get used to his disciple's true form. Female form.

"Hello, Sensei," Izuki called out, taking in All Might's gape and open mouth.

"Hello, Izuki-chan," he replied, collecting himself. "Well, as for school, I guess we can always claim you to be sick, and have you be absent for a few days?"

"But Sensei, I've never lost control of my Quirk before. You know full well that I am ALWAYS able to maintain my form as a boy, without even thinking about it. It's like a heartbeat- involuntary and steady! And I have never. Failed. To Activate. My Quirk."

They stared at each other. Inko looked at her daughter, then at All Might, and back to Izuki again.

All Might suddenly burst out laughing, startling both mother and daughter.

"Look at it this way," he started, "you have a secret identity that's better than any disguise! You're registered as Quirkless, which we changed to "super strength" when I passed One For All to you, so you'll never be found out! And as you've said, anyone who has ever known you as a girl can hardly remember that you are one!"

Izuki smiled weakly at that. He was right about that point. Probably no one, except her mother and father, and now, of course, her mentor and school principal, could remember this fact. This brought a sad memory to mind, but she quickly brushed it off.

"Yes, you're right. But in the meantime, what to do about school? I can call in sick for now, but what do we do when I can't change back into a guy after a few days?"

"We'll wait and see and then figure it out from there," All Might laughed, hoping his happy-go-lucky attitude would rub off on his protégé. It didn't matter to him if Izuku/Izuki was a boy or a girl when she takes on the mantle of All Might. After all, his own predecessor had been a woman. True, he had been taken aback when Midoriya had confided to him about her secret, about how she was REALLY a female by birth, how she discovered that her Quirk allowed her to turn into boy and why she CHOSE to stay a boy (and be known as a Quirkless boy for most of her growing-up years at that). It didn't matter, because he had chosen young Midoriya for his/her spirit, for his/her HEART. He would back his protégé all the way, whatever gender she chose to use in her Hero career.

"I'll call the school and make the arrangements. In the meantime, try to stay hidden and out of sight until your Quirk comes back," he paused. "Do you have any idea what could have caused your Quirk to be uncalled upon?"

Izuki lowered her gaze and shook her head, so All Might turned away from her to make the call. Neither he nor Inko noticed Izuki ball her hand into a fist.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Trigger

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 2**

As she lowered her gaze and shook her head, her mind recalled the events of last Friday's incident, and how she had preoccupied herself over the weekend as an attempt to keep her mind busy. Even now, she was cursing internally how her sensei's simple question brought the image immediately back to her view, and a heated flush crept up her neck.

Damn that idiot Kacchan!

**POV: Midoriya**

_It had been just another Friday afternoon, with the boys horsing around in the field for PE, because Aizawa-sensei had chosen to sneak away to nap, leaving them with free time on their hands till it was time to be dismissed._

_Of course, like always, she had been Izuku at the time._

"_Oi, Deku!" Kacchan sneered as he tossed the ball towards her, the ball heading full blast at her head. "Think fast!"_

_She had been between Tokoyami and Iida, idly discussing the topics that could be included in their test next week when the ball came hurtling towards them. Out of habit, she had raised her arms to shield the ball, but Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was faster, easily catching the ball before it could hit any of them._

"_Bakugo! That is uncalled for!" Iida called out sternly. He had been caught off-guard too, as it was supposed to be a free period and everyone was doing their own thing._

"_Ka- Kacchan, what was that all about? Aha… ahahahaha, I haven't done…"_

"_That's just it, stupid Deku," Bakugo hollered, stomping his way across the field, heading over to them. "You're not doing anything, and it just irks the fuck out of me! I just want to smash your face in!"_

_The class sighed collectively. They were used to this kind of display from the two of them. It was a common occurrence in their class. Bakugo's obvious and outright disdain for Midoriya's very existence was well-known._

_Izuki had sighed too. Kacchan hadn't changed at all, not since they left junior high, not since they started at UA… he wouldn't change, EVER. She would always be stupid Deku to him._

_A wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of Bakugo, causing him to halt to a stop._

"_Oi, Todoroki! What's the meaning of this, you trying to pick a fight, fucker?!" he yelled, turning to bellow at his classmate._

_Shoto Todoroki was sitting down on the ground, his back against a tree, his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. As per usual, he was sitting away from the rest of the class, away from the ruckus._

"_I'm just making sure you don't do anything unnecessary that will keep us longer in school than we have to be."_

"_Aaaargh! You asshole, you always think you're so much better than the rest of us!"_

"_No, that's you talking about yourself."_

_Todoroki's cool demeanor seemed to tick Bakugo off more, as Bakugo launched into a long tirade of curses and insults._

_Kirishima saw Midoriya edging cautiously towards Bakugo, guessing (correctly) that he was attempting to get closer to try to calm the volatile boy down. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow seemed to consider pulling Midoriya back and away from the explosive Bakugo, then decided it was a worthless effort. Iida began to shake his head._

"_Kacchan, calm down…"_

_This childhood nickname seemed to trigger Bakugo even further. "Deku, you bastard, I'm gonna kill ya!" and he let out an explosive burst from his arm._

_Midoriya had expected it, of course, and was already ready for the blast. She pumped her fist towards Bakugo's arm, causing Bakugo's arm to lift upwards. Her intent had been to have him blast off into the air harmlessly, but she had miscalculated her positioning as she did so. She was too close to Todoroki's ice and slipped, causing her to put more power into her fist than she had planned, and making Bakugo's arm flail a little backwards instead of upwards- towards the girls who had been gossiping in another huddle away from the boys, their backs facing them._

"_Look out," Midoriya cried, already trying to regain her footing to sprint towards them. She put a little power from One for All into her legs, kicking at the ground to try to beat the explosive ball. From the corner of her eye, she saw Iida take off, and from the other side, saw a white blur make its way towards the girls. In that split second, the rest of her classmates had come to their feet or activated their Quirks too._

_Bakugo had chosen that time to reach out with his other hand, hitting Midoriya and causing her to lose her balance again even as she hadn't gathered herself from the first slip. The rush from the other classmates added an unexpected wind-rush to this disorder, and she landed face-first into the ground._

_Except she didn't land on the ground._

_Midoriya quickly lifted herself up, her arms defensively raised in front of her, backing away quickly. "Kacchan," she squeaked, "it was an accident, I fell… and… and I…" she stuttered. She felt blood on her lips._

_Bakugo sat up slowly, his head down. Not moving._

"_Kacchan…?"_

_He raised his head, and now she could see the fury raging in his eyes._

"_Deku, you fuckin' retard!" Bakugo yelled out, the corner of his mouth bleeding too. "I'll fucking kill ya!"_

_I'm gonna die… Izuki thought._

_The bell rang just as her classmates erupted into chaos around her. Most of the boys had reached the girls before the explosive ball reached them, but there had actually been no need to intervene. The girls had reacted quickly to Midoriya's warning, and had been able to get out of harm's way._

_But Bakugo certainly had not. The entire class rounded on him, effectively creating a blockade. They were angry and oblivious to the silent threat emanating in waves around him._

_Izuki took the chance to scurry away from the field, grabbing her bag as she quickly made a getaway. She would let the weekend pass out of Kacchan's sight, hoping that 2 days would let the boiling rage stew down to a safer simmer. She hoped._

—o—o—o—o—o—

**POV: Bakugo**

_Fuck! He knew that that idiot Deku had been minding his own business with Tokoyami and Iida, but Deku's smiling, carefree face always irritated the hell outta him._

_What was that idiot smiling about anyway? Did he forget that they were here to be heroes, not to make friends? And that stupid loser was just having fun stupidly with the rest of his class._

_He spat at the ground._

_It also irked him to no end that Deku seemed to be getting more powerful with each test and trial they performed in class. He had always known that nerd was smart- hell, what with that annoying muttering of his analysis of heroes' skills and abilities, to scoring exemplary in written exams even back in junior high. This idiot had continued to impress every other idiot he encountered on his way. Heck, he had even caught the eye of their greatest hero, All Might, who seemed to be with Midoriya at every opportunity in school. All Might was someone that Bakugo idolized too, but you didn't find All Might requesting for him in the middle of class._

_Fuck! He was getting more worked up just thinking about it! That annoying little creep! That idiot nerd!_

"_What? No, I don't think so, Iida, that topic probably won't come up in the test…"_

_Bakugo's irritation grew. Just hearing that idiot's laughing voice grated on him. He decided then that he wanted nothing more than to wipe that idiotic grin off Deku's stupid face._

_He grabbed the ball that Kaminari and Kirishima had been tossing around and walked quickly towards that idiot._

"_Hey!"_

"_Oi, Deku! Think fast!" he shouted, intending to hurl the ball to smash Deku's face in._

_And his fucking classmates all interrupted him, bringing him faster over the edge. He was ranting out expletives when he heard Deku almost beside him._

"_Kacchan, calm down…"_

_Calm down? Calm down?! This fucking… idiotic… he couldn't take it anymore. He let out an explosion from his arm towards Deku and watched._

_Watched as Deku swiftly and deftly moved to position himself to strike him arm upwards._

_Watched as the clumsy idiot tripped on another idiot's ice, causing him to stumble, pushing his arm awkwardly outwards instead._

_Watched as the rest of his classmates moved in a flurry of motion._

_Watched as Deku lost more balance from the arm he raised to try to gain balance._

_Watched as gravity finally kicked in._

_He felt Deku's face smack against his, before the rest of his body slammed them both down onto the ground._

_What the fuck…?!_

_He sat up slowly, feeling Deku scampering away from him. He felt his body grow cold, an exact opposite reaction to the warm moistness on his lips._

_As he raised his eyes to Midoriya, he took in the painful sensation across his mouth, took in the stinging from the small cut created from the impact, took in Deku's face, his eyes locking in on the small trickle of blood from Deku's cut lip. And he let the rage he was feeling show._

"_Deku, you fuckin' retard!" Bakugo snarled, realization sinking in. "I'll fucking kill ya!"_

—o—o—o—o—o—

Izuki felt the flush creep up her neck as the memory jolted her back to the present, causing her to ball up her fist.

When she had landed face-first, she had fallen on top of Kacchan, her lips hitting his.

They had an accidental kiss.

And the fury she had seen in Kacchan's eyes had actually terrorized her enough to decide to run away as fast as her feet could take her. She had run all the way back home and had decided to keep herself indoors for the entire weekend.

On Saturday, she had spent the day thinking about how to approach the situation with Kacchan when they saw each other in class on Monday. Should she feign ignorance of the physical contact? Should she be defensive or be nonchalant? She tired herself out thinking out her strategy for Monday.

Yesterday, after deciding on taking the ignorant and nonchalant way out, her thoughts had strayed to the feel of Kacchan's lips when they had touched. They had been so unexpectedly warm and soft, so contrary to the foulness that often spewed from his mouth. After acknowledging this, her mind had then wandered to remembering how firm Kacchan's chest had been when she fell on top of him, how hard his lean, muscular body had felt when her own body slammed them down to the ground. This thought had caused her to slap both of her palms across her face to smack herself, and then she had gone to sleep.

And woke up as a girl.

"You're cleared," All Might announced, laying his hand on Izuki's shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Thank you, Sensei," she managed, forcing out a smile.

"I suggest you take this time to sort out your thoughts and feelings, see if you could recall something that may have triggered an OFF switch to your Quirk. As you say, your ability to maintain your male persona is a strong mental frame of mind to BE in that state."

Izuki nodded. She had discussed with All Might before how her Quirk works. She can maintain her form as Izuku for as long as she wanted. In truth, if her Quirk had only been some kind of ability type, she would make for the perfect hero, not having any limitations that they could find. It didn't drain her stamina nor energy and didn't have to be in her thoughts all the time to stay as a boy. There were no setbacks nor repercussions from using her Quirk, unlike how One For All broke her body with each use. It was a simple OFF/ON switch, with a seemingly unending, undrainable power source. She could even maintain her Izuki form while asleep or unconscious. It would be the perfect Quirk if it wasn't just so damn useless.

But she couldn't turn it on now, and all because she had started thinking like a girl.

That kiss with Kacchan had left her shaken, accidental or not. The moment their lips had touched, it was like he had electrocuted her. Maybe it was the nitroglycerin in his body, creating sparks that he tried to ignite when they touched, she couldn't be sure. She had not thought of herself as a girl in years, not since kindergarten.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Past

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 3**

They had been friends even before Kindergarten, when they first met in the public park in their neighborhood. They had been sitting nearby each other, playing by themselves with their hero dolls and they just naturally gravitated towards the other.

"All Might is my favorite hero!" the blonde-haired boy exclaimed as he made his action figure fly above him.

"Me too! I wanna be just like All Might!" Izuki had exclaimed happily, raising her doll to fly just like the blonde-haired boy.

"I'm Bakugo Katsuki", the blonde boy proclaimed.

"I'm Midoriya Izuki," she introduced herself, but a few firetrucks chose that time to drive by, drowning out the last two syllables.

"Huh? Izuku?" Katsuki yelled at her, puzzled, the firetrucks still making their way along the road. "Isn't that a boy's name?"

"What?" Izuki yelled back, straining to hear.

"Nevermind, I'll call you Zu-chan, and you can call me Kacchan!" he proclaimed, now able to hear himself speak as the sound of the sirens faded down the road.

"Ok Kacchan!"

They played that way often after that day, meeting up at the park, pretending to be All Might or some hero or some villain. They were both pleased to find that they were in the same class in Kindergarten, although Izuki and her mother had not noticed until the teacher made the class introductions that her name had been misspelled.

"This is Midoriya Izuku, say hello everyone," the teacher began. Izuki had been about to correct her when a familiar voice called out.

"Zu-chan!"

Izuki's thoughts of correcting her name disappeared as she heard the familiar voice and squealed in delight to find she knew someone in class. And anyway, it didn't really bother her whether her classmates knew her as Izuku or Izuki, because Kacchan called her Zu-chan anyway.

Bakugo was a natural ringleader in their class, because of his outgoing personality and cool demeanor. He made friends easily and Izuki found herself admiring this trait more and more as they spent time together. Kacchan was like an idol in her eyes. He became even more so as a source of awe and inspiration to her when they discovered he could create blasts of explosions from his hands, his Quirk activated way before anyone else in their level did. This made him the coolest kindergartner to be around, and everyone wanted to be around him.

There were so many followers and admirers, that Izuki found herself behind more and more, happy to let Kacchan gain so many new friends. After all, she still got to hang around him, didn't she? But as time passed, the time they spent together lessened, as Kacchan seemed to have preference towards his newfound friends with Quirks.

And then she was diagnosed as Quirkless.

While the whole class was trying out their newfound Quirks, learning how to use them and control them, she had been told that she had no Quirk, and therefore had no chance to be a hero. It shattered her world.

That same evening, after watching her favorite All Might video clip, she went to the bathroom to pee before tucking into bed. She sat down, staring blankly into space, feeling warm liquid splash on her thighs and down her leg.

_Down her leg?_ The wetness felt wrong. It shook her out of her stupor long enough to look down into the toilet bowl.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her mother came running into the bathroom. "What's wrong, Izuki?"

Izuki burst out, "Mommy, look!"

Her mother walked over to her, put on an incredulous face, and understanding dawned on them at the same time.

"I have a Quirk!" Izuki clapped her delight, bouncing up and down around the bathroom. "I have a Quirk!" she repeated. "The doctor was wrong! The toe joint doesn't matter!"

"Errm, well yes, it would seem that you do," her mother started tentatively, unsure how to handle the situation. "Do you know what it is?"

"What?" Izuki peered down. "No, what is it? Do I use it to shoot lasers?"

Her mother suddenly had a violent coughing fit. "Okaa-san, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Y-yes, *ahem*, yes, thank you," her mother wheezed out. "Izuki, dear, I need to explain some… uhm… things."

Inko spent a very interesting evening teaching her kindergartener daughter about girl body parts and boy body parts.

The next day, Izuki had come bounding happily down the stairs wearing a light green shirt and green shorts, her hair flying wildly around her. Her mother did a double-take.

"Izuki, did you change into a boy?" she asked timidly. "Are you going out like that?"

"Hai, Okaa-san, I want to show Kacchan first! It's Saturday so I should find him at the park like always! I'm gonna show up as a boy to surprise him!"

"Uhmm… ok, have fun?"

"'kay! Bye!" Izuki cheerfully ran out of the house, smiling all the way to the park.

—o—o—o—o—o—

She wasn't smiling anymore as she faced Kacchan and two of his other Quirk-ed friends, her two fists up in front of her. She was facing off against Kacchan, who had hurt the unknown boy in the yellow shirt behind her. This boy also had not yet manifested any signs of a Quirk.

"That's mean, Kacchan. If you keep going, I-I-I'll never forgive you!" Izuki declared to him.

"Even though you're Quirkless," the boy on Kacchan's right said.

"Let's teach Deku a lesson," said the boy on Kacchan's left. Ah, they had remembered Kacchan's careless remark about the kanji in her misspelled name.

Kacchan was quiet for a few seconds before speaking.

"Stupid, I'll show you!" he sneered at her. Izuki's eyes widened. He had never spoken to her like this before, never heard the tone of this voice before. This was like a different Kacchan speaking to her now.

Kacchan and his two companions rushed Izuki, still in her boy form, and beat her mercilessly till she was lying down on the ground, defeated.

"Stupid Izuku," Kacchan said, leering over her, his head bowed. Under him, Izuki was staring up at the sky, feeling sore and numb at the same time. But she didn't really feel the physical pain anymore. Something else was bothering her.

_Izuku… Kacchan had called her Izuku, not Zu-chan._

"Hey, let's leave him now, Katsuki!" said the boy on his right.

"Yeah, Quirkless Deku! De-ku! De-ku"!" the boy on his left taunted.

Izuki didn't correct the use of the masculine term "him", and neither did Kacchan. Instead, Kacchan repeated the insulting name on his mouth.

"Deku," he seemed to smirk her her. He gave her leg a small kick before turning to leave. "C'mon, let's go," he called to his companions, stuffing his fists in his pockets.

Izuki didn't know how long she stayed still on the ground. The boy she had saved from getting bullied by Kacchan was nowhere to be seen, probably having escaped while their attention was on her. It was just as well, she didn't want anyone to see her in this sorry state.

Her mother had been frantic when she had arrived home, taking in the dirt and disheveled appearance of her clothes, her hair, her face... Everything. Izuki told her what happened at the park (leaving out the fact that Kacchan had been part of it), and it broke Inko's heart to hear what her daughter had gone through that day. She learned too early how the world was unfair.

That evening, as Izuki watched a clip of All Might saving people, she asked her mother "Okaa-san, he saves everyone with a smile, no matter what trouble they're in. He's such a cool hero."

She turned her face to her mother, pools of tears threatening to fall down from her round eyes. She pointed shakily towards the screen.

"Can I… be a hero, too?"

Her mother came over to her and enveloped her in a tight hug and whispered over and over "I'm sorry, Izuki, I'm so sorry."

Izuki let the tears fall.

Minutes ticked past until silence fell upon them, Inko still holding on to Izuki. Suddenly, Inko felt a hand, Izuki's hand, gingerly rest at the back of her head.

"Okaa-san, don't tell anyone I can change into a boy. Tell everyone that I don't have a Quirk."

Her mother looked at her, not understanding, and watched as Izuki's girly facial features changed into that of a boy's.

"Izuki…?" she asked hesitantly.

"Mom, call me Izuku."


	4. Chapter 4 - Musings

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 4**

An entire week went by and Friday afternoon arrived again, signaling the end of classes for the week. Katsuki Bakugo pushed back his seat and started packing away his materials. He was still pretty pissed off about not being able to confront Deku about what happened last Friday, but admittedly the urge to kill the shitty nerd had dwindled.

Last week, he had been detained by their classmates for quite some time, and Deku had run away pretty fast, therefore effectively keeping him from giving the other boy chase. He had let the weekend pass, not wanting to storm over to Deku's house, knowing that Deku's mother would probably not let him in as he was pretty sure she had an idea why Deku came home bruised or disheveled often back in elementary and middle school, nor could he call Deku to come out, as he had never really bothered to know Deku's cellphone information. As a result, he stewed and took out his anger on a lot of things over the weekend, causing a lot of explosions at home. It was practice and preparation, he told his parents, who had been up in arms over the constant noise, nonstop grumbling and utter destruction. Also, he wanted to stay angry in preparation for when he caught hold of Deku in the coming week. He wanted to give a good thrashing, to make up for what he couldn't act upon when the deed had actually happened.

On Monday morning, he got to school real early, and staked out the front gates. He had fully intended to catch Deku before class started on Monday, and beat him up good, but he waited a long time, pacing back and forth across the yard, cursing and getting angrier as the minutes passed without him seeing his prey. He had gotten strange glances from his classmates the entire time, until the bell rang and he had to rush into the building to beat Aizawa to the room before attendance was called. He had not really been too surprised when Aizawa informed the class that Deku was absent for an indefinite time, apparently sick, but the teacher couldn't tell them what he was sick of. The idiot was probably still too scared to come to class, and had made up some flimsy excuse to not show up.

Tuesday came, and there was still no sign of the shitty nerd. Bakugo had worked up a fine rage by then, and had their classmates noting that he was more explosive and noisy and temperamental than normal. It also grated on him that they talked amongst themselves about Deku's possible illnesses, and wondering how he was doing.

By Wednesday, round-face and glasses had come up to him, asking him for Deku's address. Honestly, when it comes to Deku, he hardly paid attention, so he could hardly remember what the conversation was about, but the gist that he got from the two was that Deku was not answering their phone calls, although he did text back that he was fine and not to worry and not to come over. They had wanted to visit him to make sure he was alright, and he had told them off that if Deku said he was fine, that was all there was to it and not to make a big fuss over it. Round-face had stuck her tongue out at him, and had mentioned something about getting the address from the teachers.

On Thursday, he overheard round-face and glasses talking that none of the teachers had given them the information they wanted, and that they had to just wait till Deku came back to school. They had even offered to the teachers to take missed notes and handouts to Deku so he wouldn't fall too far behind the class but had been told that All Might was already sending the missed school materials over to his house. _Huh, so the idiot got some special treatment from All Might too, to boot._ He had heard the concern in their hushed tones and was quite irritated to realize that he felt a tiny twinge of anxiety over this long absence. After all, even back in middle school and junior high, he could not remember that shitty nerd getting sick or ever being absent from school, not even on the days he got roughed up.

He clicked his tongue at himself, memories of being part of the group doing the roughing up flashing unbidden to his mind. This irritated him even more, and he gnashed his teeth.

Why was he suddenly feeling a bit guilty? That idiot Deku just got what he deserved. Always chasing him around, always calling out "Kacchan, Kacchan!", always behind him every time he bothered to look.

_Disgusting_, he thought to himself, the way Deku always threw himself at him, always followed after him.

And yet, here he was, wondering why he was spending time wondering what was going on with Deku on a Friday afternoon.

_Fuck._

The fleeting feeling of guilt he had felt earlier left a bad taste in his mouth, and made his bad mood even worse. Putting a scowl on his face, he walked out of the campus. He'd spend a few minutes, or maybe a couple of hours, at the arcade to play away this dark cloud before heading home. Hell, no way was he gonna spend another weekend thinking about Deku.

—o—o—o—o—o—

Izuki took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, enjoying the ocean breeze. She had been cooped up in the house too long! She had specifically chosen to come out a few hours past dismissal time, to ensure that she wouldn't run into anyone she might know as they made their way home. It felt good to sweat properly after a nice jog with the sun setting in the background. Nothing beats jogging along a beach that you yourself cleaned up. The sand gave her more of a physical challenge too, and it was much more fun than jogging in place at home. The exertion and exhilaration she felt now reminded her of her early days of training with All Might at this exact same beach.

It had already been a full week since she lost control of her quirk, and she hadn't been able to turn back into a boy at all. Not only that, she had to deal with the schoolwork that All Might dutifully brought to her house everyday, to make sure she would be able to keep up with the class once she could go back to school. IF she could go back to school. She had kept herself busy exercising, studying, looking over her hero notes and making new analyses, to take her mind off the anxiety of not being able to return to UA and to NOT recall that accidental kiss with Kacchan.

When she didn't keep busy, her mind would betray her and she would vividly replay the kiss and how Kacchan felt under her over and over in her mind. Even now, she could feel a slight flush creeping up her neck.

She sighed.

After pretending to be a boy for so long, she found it crazy that she would suddenly be distraught by such a trivial thing. Did her subconscious self, her girl self, find that brief touch on the lips so interesting? It had crossed her mind more than once that teenage hormones were at play here, and only now was her mind struggling in an internal conflict with itself. What was it about girls and kissing?! Sheesh.

She kicked off her shoes, removed her socks and eased her bare feet into the sand as she sat down. She was wearing her usual sweats, which felt loose and baggy on her female frame. She had a cap and mask on, to ensure that her face couldn't be seen clearly in case she happened to pass by someone who could recognize Izuku Midoriya. After all, her- HIS face had been broadcasted all over national TV during the UA Games. She was also thankful that her mother had earlier insisted on purchasing some female undergarments for her. She had to admit that she needed the chest support.

She sighed again. She really is a girl, after all. Izuki wondered why she couldn't turn back into a boy. Did that kiss with Kacchan affect her more than she was willing to admit?

She smiled wistfully to herself, as memories of their childhood came to mind. She could faintly remember how happy she was when Kacchan turned his bright smile on her, could almost remember how he called her Zu-chan in his laughing voice. She looked at her hand and tried to recall how warm Kacchan's hand had been, holding hers, pulling her along as he cooked up another way to have fun and get them both into trouble.

Izuki stared off across the horizon as the sun's light faded slowly in the distance.

_Happier times,_ she thought sadly, raising her hand against the setting sun, reaching out as if to grasp the warmth there. She closed her fingers around it, clenching her hand to a fist and held it there for a moment. She closed her eyes and pictured Kacchan's face- from his cocky grin in kindergarten all the way to his trademark sneer in the present day. How things had changed from the time he had discovered his quirk. That was the day she lost her place at his side. Even when she came into her own useless quirk, all she could do was chase after his back. Because she wasn't as extraordinary as he was.

She will admit that she admired, _no_, she corrected herself-admires his courage, his strength, his tenacity and his stubbornness to see his goal of becoming a hero to the end. She will admit that despite the bullying, despite the meanness and that outrageously villainous air he carries around himself, she had always thought of Kacchan as someone who was amazing and strong and willful and… well, to her, he was awesome. She had always been in awe of him.

She let her fist fall to the sand. She still thought of him as awesome, up to now. Isn't that why she still looked up to him, still chased after him, still considered him her friend?

_Haha_, Izuki mentally laughed at herself. _Stop trying to fool yourself, Izuki. You're the only one who seems to think that the two of you are friends._

But Kacchan had continued to allow her to call him Kacchan, didn't he? He had never let anyone else give him a nickname. She was the only one.

She chuckled to herself. There was that.

She stretched and began putting on her socks and shoes. No use fretting over whether or not he was still angry about their lips touching, she decided. Kacchan could explode at her all he wanted, he would still let her call him Kacchan. That was the one thing that had not changed between them. She felt a bit better now. Time to head home and try to figure out how to turn back into a guy so she could go back to school and things could return to normal.


	5. Chapter 5 - Encounter

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

[A/N: Chapter 4 was a bit irrelevant, I'm sorry, but necessary to get the story flowing. I touched more on Midoriya's view of her relationship with Bakugo, and I gave a sneak peek of where Bakugo's thoughts stand.]

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 5**

Bakugo had played for over an hour before he felt bored and decided to leave the arcade. His mood had lightened up after defeating the highest score- his own- at the pinball machine. He took the long route home today, wanting a change of pace and a change of scenery, and he found himself along the stretch of Dagoba Municipal Beach Park. It had been years since he came here. He stepped onto the sand and walked along the shoreline.

It occurred to him that this beach had been a dumpsite for many years, which is why he had never really bothered to come here, but some time ago it had been reported that the beach had been mysteriously cleaned up. No government agency had taken the credit for the cleanup, so it was assumed that some locals had come together and done something, which was a great thing. Pretty fucking heroic deed, to have done some good without asking to be credited for it.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he leisurely trudged along the beach, watching his shoes sink into the sand. Heroic, huh. Did he have what it takes to be a real hero? Of course, Bakugo was pretty confident about his abilities, there was no doubt that he had the power and the control for it. But sometimes, he wondered if he had the true characteristics of a hero.

He knew he had anger management issues, knew that he had a short fuse (especially where a shitty nerd was concerned), and he had heard too often that he was more of a villain than a hero. He was always quick to take action, sometimes forgetting that it wasn't good to jump in without analyzing and understanding a situation first. He hardly listened to other people, preferring to use and depend on his own judgement and actions. He didn't need others to be great, he could do it all on his own!

And yet, there was that sludge incident wherein he couldn't do ANYTHING and that shitty, Quirkless-at-the-time Deku had come rushing to save him, because he thought that he needed help.

He kicked at the sand. _Dammit!_ Couldn't he fucking contemplate about his own life without being fucking reminded of Deku in some way?!

_Speaking of the devil…_ Bakugo squinted his eyes at the figure sitting on the sand a couple of hundred meters ahead. Up in front of him was the silhouette of a small person in sweats, with a hand raised out in front of them. Even with the cap and a mask on, he could tell it was Deku. What was that shitty nerd doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be sick? He strode purposefully, his pace a bit faster now, a wicked grin appearing on his face. Here was a chance to take revenge for that awful experience last week!

Then the figure stood up and Bakugo came to a halt. _Wait…_ the person whom he thought was Deku stretched and now Bakugo could tell that this was a girl! The sweats were very much like the type he often saw Deku wear, but the sweats fell too loosely on this figure. This figure was too slender, too curvy, too FEMININE to be that shitty nerd. He wondered how he could have mistaken this girl for Deku in the first place.

The other figure seemed oblivious to his presence as she turned the other way and starting jogging towards the other direction. Bakugo took a moment to observe the way she moved, wondering why it seemed so familiar. This was strange, as he had never really bothered with girls before, and didn't know many. Hell, he could hardly remember the names of the girls in his class. He had never really given any of them a thought. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in girls, but rather, no one had ever caught his interest.

So why did this one seem so interesting to him now? He hadn't even seen her face, thanks to the cap and mask she wore. There was no way to tell if she was pretty or not. The only thing he COULD tell, was that she was pretty fit. She had quickly become a small speck in the distance in that short time he watched her disappearing figure, suggesting that she had the stamina and muscle to accomplish the feat so fast.

He briefly wondered if she came here to jog often, then shook his head and continued his way along the beach, heading home.

—o—o—o—o—o—

Izuki stepped out of the store with a grocery bag in hand. Her mother had asked her to stop by for some ingredients for dinner before coming home. She rarely got a chance to do small errands for her mother, and was pleased to be able to do something for her today.

A sudden explosion a few blocks away made her look up in alarm. Black smoke had started to appear over the buildings, indicating a big fire. Faint screams could be heard and people started running away from where the explosion seemed to come from.

Izuki ran towards the direction of the smoke. From experience, she knew it would take a couple of minutes for heroes and police to arrive, and by then, it might be too late for some civilians. She now had the capacity to help others, and while she couldn't expose herself in her female form, she would do what she could till the authorities arrive. She was a hero-in-training, and heroes would not idly standby.

Bakugo had also heard the explosion and started running towards the sound of the commotion. He was still in his UA uniform, so he would have to conduct his behavior accordingly. There were shitty rules for students in place, and he had to ensure he would follow the rules as much as he fucking could. If there was a villain, he could not engage and must wait for the heroes to arrive and take care of them. It was part of their hero training. After all, what hero doesn't follow the rules? He had already been fucking scolded numerous times by his teachers when we ignored rules during training activities. But out in the public eye, he could not afford to be careless.

When he turned the corner, true enough, a villain was standing on top of an overturned gas tanker, laughing maniacally. Bakugo's eyes scanned the area quickly, taking in the surroundings. This was the worst possible situation. There was fuel leaking out of the tanker, which meant, he could not use his quirk to try to overpower the villain, nor could he blast the villain into unconsciousness. He wasn't even sure what the villain's quirk was. There wasn't any hero in sight yet, and he wondered if he could keep the villain preoccupied until someone better-matched could take him on.

A movement behind the villain caught his eye. Someone was trying to sneak up on him, and was using the dense smoke as a camouflage so they wouldn't be seen. It wasn't a bad idea. He could wait for an opening and help the other party out.

A small cry on his left caught his attention and he turned to see a small kid standing indignantly near the tanker.

"You hurt my mommy!" the little kid wailed, and he pelted a rock at the villain.

The villain had turned quickly to look at the kid, and caught the rock aimed at him. He laughed louder and Bakugo could hear a crazed undertone in that laugh.

_NO! _he thought, and he tried to run to the kid as the villain aimed the rock back at the child and threw it.

"Ngggh!"

Bakugo stared in surprise as a figure appeared in front of the kid and shielded him from the rock. Someone had gotten to the boy faster than he could. He watched as the rock, which seemed to be as fast as a bullet, sliced through the figure's arm, which was now shielding the boy's head. The rock cut through cloth and skin, as blood spurted from the figure's arm.

"Are you alright?" he heard the figure ask the boy. A female voice.

"Y-y- yes!" the boy squeaked out, suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation. He clung to the figure who saved him.

Since the boy seemed to be alright, Bakugo now ran to the villain to try to knock him out before more damage could be done. The villain had been distracted by the figure who had blocked his projectile, and didn't see him coming in to sweep his feet and knock him off the tanker.

Izuki could hear fighting behind her, but didn't want to leave the distraught boy. She didn't know who came to help her, but whoever it was was doing a good job of preoccupying the villain.

"You're alright," she said in a soothing voice to the boy.

"Onee-san, you're hurt!" the boy gasped suddenly, his small eyes widening at the blood staining his savior's left sleeve.

"Don't worry," she answered gently. "Where's your mother? Let's help her."

"Here, over here," the boy forgot all about the blood and started pulling her towards a collapsed building, where debris was strewn all around them. There was an especially big pile up ahead, and Izuki could make out an arm from underneath.

"Auntie… auntie, are you OK?" Izuki called out, touching the hand lightly. She felt a faint twitch in response. The mother was alive!

"Wait here," she called to the boy, as she turned away from him to start pulling debris away. Her left arm was starting to numb now, but she wouldn't- couldn't stop until the mother was freed and safely turned over to the medics. She didn't want to activate One For All here, as the boy was watching and because she had not tried using One For All with her female form before. While she had SOME control of the quirk, she still hadn't gained full control of One For All, and she wasn't sure if it would be the same in her female body. She realized now that she should have tried training her female body to work with One For All. Cursing herself mentally for her lack of insight, she strained at the debris.

"Hey, you're fucking injured. Get out of the way, I'll do that." She heard the voice and stilled. She knew that voice. _Oh no._

Bakugo came up beside the girl and realized that it was the same person he had almost mistaken for Deku back at the beach. Well, what a coincidence.

"Did you hear me? Get off, shit-for-brains, it will be easier for me to blast off the debris so we can get to her faster," he told her. She had stiffened beside him and not looked up. Had she heard him? "Hello?"

"Ah yes, sorry," Izuki kept her head down. She still had her cap and mask on and she raised her good hand to bring the brim of the cap lower over her eyes as she stood up to let Kacchan take over. She also tried to pull down the right sleeve of her sweatshirt, to hide the scars on her right hand. She had planned to escape as soon as he started, but the little boy ran to her and clung to her good side as he sobbed for Kacchan to quickly help his mother. She patted his small head as Kacchan let out a couple of controlled blasts on his palms, enabling him to quickly remove the debris.

"Over here," Bakugo barked to the medics running towards them. "This idiot's injured too," he jerked his thumb over to Izuki.

"Oh, it's alright, I'll be fine," she mumbled.

"Like hell, I saw you get hit with that fucking speeding rock and your fucking sleeve is soaked red!" he barked at her, now whirling around to face her as the medics started working on the boy's mother. She still had her head down, and he couldn't see her face. "Why didn't you use your fucking quirk instead of running out like that? I'm sure whatever the hell it is would've been better than getting yourself fucking injured!"

He still couldn't see her face but he could tell that she had tensed up. "What?"

"I- I don't have a quirk," she said quietly.

Bakugo was taken aback. "What? Then what the hell were you doing running off into the fray like that? You could've gotten fucking killed or something!"

"I wasn't going to stand there doing nothing when people need my help!" she snapped defiantly, and now she raised her face to look at him.

Bakugo stared into the most vividly green eyes he had ever seen. Shiny, emerald eyes that were fired up from anger and indignation. Something tugged at the back of his mind, a memory, but he pushed that thought aside for now. He was about to ask her for her name when the medic pulled her arm.

"Come with me, dear, we need to stitch up that arm and stop the bleeding."

He watched her turn away from him, seemingly relieved to get away, but before she did, she gave him a glance, and this time, he caught a flicker of uncertainty before she lowered her gaze and pulled the brim of her cap low over her face again. He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

_Tch._ Why did she seem so fucking familiar?

—o—o—o—o—o—

Bakugo grumbled as he walked home. He had stayed at the scene of the commotion to answer questions from the heroes and the police, and by the time he was able to get away, the girl had disappeared. He had grabbed hold of the medic that had treated her, who wasn't able to give him any details other than she had allowed her arm to get stitched up and treated, but had suddenly disappeared before they could coerce the girl to come with them to the hospital for a full checkup. They hadn't gotten her name either. Bakugo had also tried to talk to the little boy, but could only be told that the "onee-san" was nice. It was a bit frustrating to have no clue about this girl whom no one seemed to know anything about. And why the fuck was he so fascinated with her?

He repeated the words she said to him in his mind: _"I wasn't going to stand there doing nothing when people need my help!"_

It sounded exactly like something Deku would say. He stopped dead in his tracks.

_FUCK._ Couldn't he even think about some mysterious girl without Deku invading his thoughts? Was he fucking gay or something? _Get a fucking grip, you idiot._

But now that it had crossed his mind, he realized that this girl did remind him of Deku somewhat. So she was quirkless, was she? Yet she fucking jumped into danger without a second thought. It was exactly how he expected Deku to respond, if he had been there with them earlier.

Bakugo started walking again. _What the hell._ The same trait he hated about Deku was the same trait he now admired in this girl. He was becoming a fucking weirdo. And yes, he wasn't too proud to admit to himself that he DID admire this girl, though we would be caught dead before voicing such a thing out loud. She was a bit stupid, but her heart was in the right place. She would probably have become a great hero if she had a quirk. Being fucking quirkless hadn't stopped her from helping out that little boy and his mother. Just the same way Deku being quirkless didn't stop him from following his fucking dream of becoming a fucking hero.

"Oh, is that you, Katsuki?"

He stopped and looked over at the voice that called to him, his mouth opening in surprise as he looked at Deku's mother, who had been in the middle of taking out the trash. He had not been paying attention as he walked home and he had taken the path that led to Deku's house. He had not noticed that he had entered the apartment complex. He hadn't even noticed climbing up sets of stairs. He cursed internally. He had unconsciously come to Deku's side of the neighborhood, probably because he had been thinking about that girl's similarity to Deku.

"Auntie Inko, good evening," he called out, unsure of what to make of the situation. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, feeling a bit defensive and vulnerable, especially in front of the mother of the boy whom he bullied for so long.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time," she called out cheerfully. Bakugo was a bit confused. Didn't she know? Didn't fucking Deku tell her about him?

"Izuku always talks about you, you know. Thank you for always playing with him and watching over him all these years. I hope you'll always be friends," she bowed to him.

Bakugo didn't know what to say. It seemed like Deku had told her nothing. His throat suddenly felt really dry.

"No, please don't bow to me. If anything, I am grateful to De- to Izuku for all his years of supporting me," he said simply. He had not realized the honesty in his words, until he found himself saying it out loud.

"Auntie," he straightened himself out, wanting to get himself out of this awkwardness as soon as possible. "I don't know what he's sick of, but please tell him to hurry up and get better, because he won't be able to be a great hero if he misses any more classes." He said loudly, his voice gaining strength and conviction now. He felt his usual cocky smirk come across his face. Aha, there it fucking was. Now he fucking felt like himself. He saw a little movement from the corner of his eye and he turned to see the curtain being pulled down quickly from the window near the door. So, Deku was listening, was he?

"You hear that? You better be in top shape when you come to school on Monday, otherwise there's no way you're going to be able to beat me." He called out, remembering Deku's challenging words to him in the weeks they had been at UA. He bowed to Deku's mom and turned away. He felt his mood lighten. Strangely, not at the thought of beating up that shitty nerd, but at the anticipation of a challenge. Nothing beats the fucking thrill of having Deku try to catch up with him, and then putting him back in his place- behind Katsuki Bakugo. He couldn't wait till Monday. In the meantime, he would try to catch that intriguing girl tomorrow afternoon at the beach.

From the covered window near the doorway, Izuki listened as Kacchan walked away. She was dumbstruck. She had never heard him encourage her before, much less challenge her. She knew that Kacchan had never thought of her as an equal, had never considered her anything more than a Quirkless nerd. But she had clearly heard him challenge her to come back to school and be better than him.

She leaned against the wall and slowly sunk down to sit. She was utterly stupefied. She had been a little panicked earlier when they had encountered each other at incident earlier, wondering if she had sounded too much like the Deku he knew. She had been agonizing over whether or not he recognized her and had snuck away from the site as soon as the medic had finished bandaging her wound. She had not expected him to show up outside her house, though she already figured he must not have come here on purpose. She had heard her mother call out to him, and had hurried to the window to look. She had caught the surprised look on his face, and had let out a sigh of relief, realizing that Kacchan had not figured it out yet.

This had been an incredibly surprising day! Never would she have thought she'd come to hear Kacchan raising a challenge to her. It brought a smile to her lips. Was he starting to acknowledge her? She'll show him!

But first, she had to turn back into Izuku Midoriya, because Kacchan was expecting Deku to show up in school on Monday. She wasn't about to disappoint him.


	6. Chapter 6 - Realization

"**MY HERO SECRET"**

A My Hero Academia fanfic by Nozomi888

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi. I am a mere fangirl who isn't getting enough FemDeku/Kacchan, FemDeku/Todoroki stories, and so I've written my own. This is a FemDeku/Kacchan fic and is set before the Training Camp arc.

[A/N: If you started reading this fic BEFORE August 18, please re-read Chapters 1-5 again. I posted an Author's Note on August 18, as I found major inconsistencies and missing plot details that I needed for my storyline. Also, I started writing this fic before I finished Season 1. I have finished Season 1 to 3 already so will now try to stay close to the canon universe. Anyway, as of this chapter, all old chapters have been replaced with the new/corrected ones.]

—o—o—o—o—o—

**CHAPTER 6**

As she straightened herself to stand up, she noticed that something felt different. Did her clothes feel a bit tight all of a sudden?

She looked down at her body.

Oh!

She was a boy again! She ran to her room and looked at the full-length mirror. She thought about being a girl again.

Yes! Her Quirk was back!

She tested out switching back between a girl and a boy. It seemed to work fine.

She let out a sigh of relief. She would be able to go to school on Monday, at last.

"Okaa-san! Okaa-san, look!" she ran to her mother as Izuku.

A few hours later, after dinner, Izuki went back to her room and sat down on the bed.

She frowned a bit in thought. Originally, she had planned to stay in her male form forever. But now that her Quirk had shown its first infallibility, she now needed to include her true female form into the equation. Additionally, there was no foolproof explanation yet as to why she could suddenly use her Quirk. It obviously had something to do with her frame of mind, but what exactly? An accidental kiss with Kacchan itself had not caused the switch, but rather it seemed that thinking about the kiss triggered the instability?

Izuki looked into the mirror and for the first time since the incident, willfully recalled the events of that day to mind. Nothing happened. She was still in her male form.

She tried thinking about kissing her other male classmates- Iida, Todoroki, Kirishima, Tokoyami (_How would you accomplish this kiss?, she thought musingly_), Kaminari, Mineta- she visibly blanched at herself in the mirror at Mineta's name, Sero- nothing.

_Well, scratch that theory._

So it wasn't the kiss itself, then?

She switched to thinking about being a girl again and watched as her features and body changed from Izuku back to Izuki.

Was she back in control of her Quirk?

Maybe she would try the opposite. After all, she didn't know how she changed back into a guy either.

The only thing that came to mind was Kacchan's parting words, which she knew were meant precisely for her: "You better be in top shape when you come to school on Monday."

And her disbelief in that supportive statement had motivated her to work harder to try turning back to Izuku.

She gasped, looking at the mirror, her features warping from Izuki back to Izuku.

Izuki thought really hard now. If it wasn't the thought or the act itself that triggered the instability, was it HOW she felt or thought, of the thought or the act in itself?

She was Izuku right now, so she concentrated really hard on staying MALE, and thought again of the kiss. But this time, she thought of how she felt. She thought of how warm and firm Kacchan's lips had felt against hers, tried to remember the feel of his strong and lithe body under hers. She could feel the now-familiar heated flush crawled up from her neck to her ears, and watched in dismay at her reflection- at her FEMALE form's pink cheeks and slightly downcast eyes, looking sheepish and embarrassed.

_Aw, heck._

It was her _FEELINGS_.

Her feelings about how Kacchan felt against her, how much more she wanted to discover about his body, that was triggering the instability.

Was she attracted to Kacchan?

The simple thought sent her to her knees. She crawled to her bed and flopped face down, covering her face with her hands. Really? After all those years of bullying, of being treated like nothing, of being ignored and silently accepting of his ill-treatment of her, she still liked and admired him enough to find him attractive, and that one stupid accidental fall ON TOP of him seemed to have unearthed some deeply buried, underlying feelings she apparently had for him. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. She must have been some kind of extreme masochist in her past life, for her to develop this kind of attraction to her lifelong tormentor.

Now that she had figured out what was going on, she was going to have to put a stop to it. She harbored no illusion that Kacchan would even be the slightest bit attracted to her, he made that evidently clear all those years he had known her as Deku- he didn't even remember her as a girl anymore! It was already a hopeless case. There was nothing to be gained by entertaining fantasies about wanting to feel those lips against hers again.

Wait, DID she want to feel him again?

Oh _Kami-sama_, yes she did.

—o—o—o—o—o—

Izuki put on her cap and made a final check in the mirror. After an exhausting evening of thinking, she had decided to put an end to these feelings she was developing before they got out of hand. Whether it was Kacchan or some other person, she couldn't allow distractions to get in the way of her dream of becoming a hero, and the instability of her Quirk brought about by her unchecked feelings could hinder that dream before she could turn them into reality. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted by foolish notions of boys, crushes and all these teenage, growing up nonsense.

On the other hand, what she originally thought was a perfect (but useless) Quirk, was now actually pretty flawed if it could become unstable by a simple FEELING. It was a good thing that she found out about this flaw now rather than later.

It also occurred to her that she now had to think about training her female form. It would not bode well if she changed in the middle of hero work and broke all her bones simply because her female body couldn't handle the same physical changes that her male body had already adapted to. She needed to train her female body to be physically fit enough to handle One for All, and she needed to train her mind to re-adjust how she let One for All flow through her female body. She had to be adept in switching between both forms should it ever become necessary.

Today, she was going to do just that. She was going to get some physical training done at the beach in her female form. She adjusted her mask and tugged on her new, fingerless gloves- something to help her hide the tell-tale scars on her right hand. But before heading there, she wanted to visit the little boy and his mother at the hospital to check on them.

—o—o—o—o—o—

Izuki sighed satisfactorily as she closed the door behind her. She had just finished visiting with the little boy and his mother, who was on her way to a full recovery. It had taken her some time to visit them, since she had not known their names, only the hospital where they had been taken to be treated, and it took a long time to explain to the nurses at the station that she was looking for a lady and a little boy who had been brought in from yesterday's incident. The little boy had jumped up and started crying when she had entered the room, running over to her and thanking her over and over. She had soothed him down and they sat together talking about never doing such a foolish thing again, to which the boy simply proclaimed that he was going to be a hero someday too, just like HER.

She spent more time at the hospital than she originally intended, but it was fine all the same, and she came out of that little visit feeling much better, remembering that this was the reason why she wanted to be a hero too.

Well, she still had a long way to go, so she had better get started!

She had just turned the corner when she ran into someone coming from the other end.

"Oof!"

"Oh sorry, I wasn't looking-" she stopped. Her eyes widened. "Todoroki-kun, what are you doing here?"

Todoroki brushed down his shirt, looking at her curiously. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

_Oh, crap!_

Izuki almost clapped her hand to her face in alarm, but stopped herself. Her heart was beating wildly in panic. "Uhm, no, uh, sorry about that. I—I remember you from the UA Sports Festival that was televised awhile back. Yes, that's right!" she rubbed her back of her neck sheepishly. She didn't think that she'd run into someone she knew at the hospital and had been completely taken off guard.

She bowed to him. "I'm sorry if I was being too familiar by calling you by name, Todoroki-san, it was rude of me."

"Ah no- forget about it," Todoroki answered, turning in order to go about on his way.

"I had been visiting a boy and his mother from yesterday's incident, and remembering our talk led me to not paying attention to where I was going…" Izuki rambled, still a bit panicked about being seen by a classmate, but also kicking herself mentally for mentioning things that were irrelevant to Todoroki.

Todoroki stopped. "How kind of you," he answered, a bit perplexed. Did this strange girl tend to make light conversation with random strangers? He wasn't sure how to handle the situation.

"Oh, not at all!" Izuki exclaimed. "I just wanted to see for myself that they were alright."

The way she phrased the statement made Todoroki pause, then he asked "Were you there when the incident happened?" He had seen the incident in the news himself, but a bystander or a home viewer would not normally go out of their way to check on the victims or the injured, would they?

"Uhmm, yeah." She sounded embarrassed now. "I helped a little bit to pull the boy to safety, then tried to help his mother who was trapped under some rubble before the emergency rescue teams arrived?" she sounded unsure. "So I guess I just wanted to check on them and make sure they were recovering all right."

Izuki hung her head. She sounded lame. Could the floor please swallow her up?

Todoroki was unsure what to respond at this point. In the past, he would have just given her a grunt in acknowledgement when she first ran into him, then walked off. But ever since the UA Sports Festival, and the myriad of realizations he had come to accept and acknowledge after Midoriya's outburst to him, he felt that he had changed a little. He was now more interested in the things and happenings around him, like current events and people.

This girl certainly seemed interesting to him right now.

"Are you a studying to be a hero, too?" he asked tentatively.

Her head still down, he watched her enthusiastically nod her head at him. He waited for her to continue speaking, but this time, there was a stretched silence between them. They both fidgeted in awkward silence until he remembered something.

"I was visiting my mother."

"What?" her head shot up and he watched her looking at him tentatively, curiosity in her eyes.

"You asked me earlier what I was doing here," he clarified. "I was visiting my mother."

"Oh! Uhmmm, I see, uhmm…" Izuki trailed off. She was curious about Todoroki's situation, as she knew very little, and now she had an opportunity to find out something more about him. "Has she been here long? How is she doing?"

"I would say she's doing alright."

"I- I see," she smiled at him, knowing that this was a big improvement over how Todoroki usually answered and reacted when it came to talking about his family. She wouldn't pry any further.

"That's good to hear. Well, I guess I won't keep you any longer, Todoroki-san. Take care, and I hope your mother gets better real soon! Your presence will surely help her recover faster!"

Todoroki could hear the smile in her gentle voice, even though he couldn't see it behind the mask she wore. Then she raised her eyes at him and he looked into twinkling, emerald eyes that seemed to wish him all the happiness in the world. Just as he was starting to feel captivated by her gaze, she bowed to him again and continued on her way.

He found himself watching her retreating figure till she turned the next corner and finally disappeared from his sight.


End file.
